Stephen Owens says the Web and mobile app he and Carlos Fernandez Jr. have created could help fire and EMS supervisors to get needed crews to the scene 10 to 15 minutes faster.

In some cases, that could be the difference between life and death, he says.

He and Fernandez are set to formally launch Page-Out on Sept. 6, though at least 10 departments around the country are already using the personnel management system. Fernandez says he’s also received one inquiry from Canada.

Owens, a captain for Hesston’s volunteer fire department, says he sees a big market for the system, which was designed with volunteer departments in mind. There are about 37,000 of those in the United States, he says.

About 70 percent of firefighters nationwide are volunteers, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

In a volunteer department, individuals are often “on-call” 24 hours a day, but sometimes, they’re not actually available to respond to calls. The Page-Out system works by equipping individual firefighters or EMS workers with an app on their mobile phones. They tap a button to “page in” when they’re available, and if they’re leaving town or attending the event, they “page out.” They can indicate how long they’ll be unavailable.

Firefighters who don’t have smartphones can page in or out via text message or on a computer.

Their actions provide a chief or supervisor with a continuously updated list of who’s available.

Owens says having this information at all times can be crucial to a shift leader like him. Before Page-Out, a dispatcher would put out a call for volunteers to respond, and a supervisor would have to wait for firefighters to arrive at the scene before determining whether backup from another department would be needed.

“You never know who’s actually in town or in a position to respond,” he says.

Even if volunteers do check in with the chief, their individual situations can be hard to keep track of, especially in the heat of the moment.

Now that Hesston’s department is using Page-Out, Owens says he can see instantly whether he needs to call in extra help, which means help arrives faster.

Page-Out was designed and developed by Fernandez with the help of three programmers. Development involved creating Android, iOS and Web applications.

Fernandez and Owens are co-owners and say they’ve put up the starting capital themselves. Production has cost nearly six figures, Owens says.

They plan to charge departments a monthly fee to use the system. Cost likely would range between $49.99 and $159.99 a month, depending on the number of users. Pricing details are at Page-Out.com.

Fernandez says he and Owens are waiting to hear back on a patent application for Page-Out’s technology. Then, the pair could decide to add functionality and apply the same technology to other industries.

Page-Out might seek investors to help fund new features, Owens says, but first, he and Fernandez want the initial release to prove itself.